Process of smelting ores.



"No; 757,220. PATENTED APR; 12, 1904. A. --R.-PARTRIDGB.

- :PROGBSS'OP SMELTING 0311s.

. Y Y MPLIOATIOR FILED nnps'o. 1900; RENEWED JULY 22, 1003. HQ MODEL. 1

able metals, such as gold, silver,.'m'ercury,'

Y jects at a material reductionof operating exthe draft in the smelter also bears a definite 4 ALLEN R; ran,

' Be "it known that I, A-Lnnn R. PARTRIDGE, a

bottonifor the open'stack, and it is also adbottom of the's'nelter. It is provided with a QPatented a n-12, 1904.-

soo, CALIFOR SIGNOR or 'o n-HALF'a: ream; w.- PAGEE on SAN raAnoisco d L FoRNiA:

TING ones.

srncmicarrron forming part of LettersPatent No. 757,220, dated Apri1 1 2, -1904.

App1ioationfiled March 30,1900. 'Reliewed i'l'ply To all 'whom it may concern:

citizen of the'United States, residing at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Processes of Smelting Ores, of which the following is a; specification. 4 T i My invention relates to the treatment of ores by smelting to obtain precious or valu copper, and lead One part of my process relates to the'operation of smelting, and consists in producing a vacuum in the smelter for establishing andv maintainingamore effective and uniform draft','for producing and maintaining a hotter smelting zone, and for accomplishing these ob pense; but the vacuum method of producing and important relation to the second part of my process,- by'which gases or fumescontaining or carrying valuable" material are condensed or precipitated, andthus saved. I

The apparatus which I prefer to employ for carrying out my process is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in alsingle sectional view. I do not limit myself, however, to suchapparatus, as my processcan be carried out by other apparatus dii fei'e' tly constructed,- but of course embodying tli d lfeaturesiGs'sential to the proper carrying outofmyprocess.

In the drawing, A represents a stack supported in any suitable way, as by the angle brackets w and beams I), the latter forming part of some suitable supporting structure. The stack may be constructed of iron and wittor-jacketed, shown, 0; built of brick or masonry, as may be preferred. It is entirely open at the bottom. u

B represents the chargingrdoor at the top; Q represents a separate hearth, which I 'prefer to make portable by mounting it upon carrying-wheels c. This hearth formsamovable justable vertically,so as to increase or diminish the distance of its upper. edge from the 22,1903. swarm; 166,635. a (No SpOinienS-l U slag-spout d and with adraw-ofi spoute, adapted to be'closedfbut to' be tapped when the matte bullion, or other material is to be remove The vertical adjustment of the hearth can be accomplished in many difi'erent ways. I-

.have shown the. whole hearth bodily movable by means of screws f, bearing on the tracks g.

Between the .hearth and open-bottomed stack a continuous draft-space'thus exists, controllable as to size and adapted toadmit a flow of air uniformly throughout its extent.

I attach greatimportance to thisirnann'er of admitting a continuous and undivided volume of air to-the smelter instead of using blast or forcing means and twyersfwhich supply the air in separated jets. Y

When the furnace is charged with ore and 'fuel or with ore alone,.which from its nature forms a fuel, and combustion is taking place,

' a narrow smelting zone is established, as indicated roughly'by dotted lines, a few inches above the openbott0m,.and the airentering uniformly and unbrokenly and without pre- J vious. heating is immediately exposed to, the x intense-radiated heat from the zone before reaching the latter, and this radiation takes .placeuniformly throughout the extent of the air flow, since there arenocross-currents, but only a uniform flow. Thus Without previous heating and without, expensive mechanical forcing devices I produce a hotter'and more effective smelting zone at a"considerable re-- duction in expense= V The necessary draftis produced in my process by exhaust or-suction operating to produce a vacuum in the stack, and I do this by means of a steam-injector operating in connection with an outlet from" the stack for products of combustion. Near the upper end of the structure-is the escape-pipe D, which communicates with a flue E, which may extend vertically or at any angle, provided that it extends across theend-of the pipe D. Within the line E'and near. its end its inner diameter is reduced by a plug 0,which forms an injectornozzle. A pipe F enters steam-tight through the closed end of flue E, through which steam 'from any suitable boiler is supplied and injected through the plug and past the outlet,

beyond which it expands to the sizeof' the flu'e E, making practically a piston of steam. beyond the outlet and causing an extraordinary draft. No steanrinjector whose jet entors beyond the outlet from the furnace can produce a draft approaching in energy that realized from this lIlJBClZOI', whiehenters at one side of the outlet, discharges pa'st it, and

expands-beyond it to form a steam-piston. Further, the steam leaving the flue enters the enlarged stack, in whichit is freed tosuch an extent as to prevent any back pressure. I The injector tends to .produce a vacuum inthe stack, which of course causes a strong inflow scribed; I may mention here that air under -press u remay be used as an mgector for creata draft, and although in such case .I should be shouldistil'l obtain an economical advantage of air from .belowin the'manner alreadydeing a vacuum in-the staek and producing the put to the expense of air-forcing devices I over the use. of such devicesfor producing the to be preferred partly on account of its economy, but principally because it has an im portant. bearing upon theremainder of the' draftby direct pressure from below. This .will he understood by reference to .theprevious description of the character of the draft 'in my smelter, which cannot be produced by direct pressure, but can be produced by any effective means for causing a vacuum in the stack.

The use o'i' steam, however, as an injector is process. When the composition of the orelis such that it carries metals capable ofbeing volatilized wholly or partly, so' as to escape from .the' stack gas; fumes, or when valuable dust is carried out of the stack, fumes or dust combine with the steam in the. externalflue 4.

and are carried along with it. By liberating.

r the steam in a suitable chamber it is "permitted to cool naturally and condense the fumes and to. precipitate the-valuable dust-{which duced ,below.

has been made heavier by saturation, while the Worthless material. escapes. In the draw' 45 ing, (ir shows ran-enlargement of the flue E, which-enters. the dust-chamber H, in which the operationqjust described takes place and I which is provided with astackL-through whichthe worthless materials escape.) It will 59 thus be seen that in the continuous process -.descri bed l'obtain a twofold advantage by the use'o'f steam at a single pointfirst,- in producing'an efl'ective'd-raft economically and. at

Having thus. fully described my invention, what 1 claim as new, and desire. to obtain by Letters.Patent, is-

. The herein-described method of smelting ores consisting in admitting air freely'at atmospheric pressure to the bottom of the smel- "ter, and'producing a'suction at the top of. the

smelter by injecting a j'etof steam' or airthrough a relatively narrow passage, causing said steam or air to'pass transversely an out- 75 let from-the upper .endof the-smelter and to then expand-to fill a relatively wider passage beyond said outlet, substantially as described. In testimony whereof I have aflixed my sig-' dayof March, 1900. l ALLEN- R. '1?ARTRI DGrE;

Witnesses! Plum;

SEELr.

nature, iii-presence of two witnesses,:this 19th 8 v 

